In response to rising concern about racial and ethnic conflict, many law enforcement agencies have created special units to investigate bias-related crimes (Anti-Defamation League, 1988; Kelly, 1993). The Law Enforcement Management Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey reported that in 1990 special" bias-related crimes" units existed in 35 percent of all municipal police departments, 29 percent of all sheriffs' departments, 44 percent of all county police departments, 12 percent of state police agencies, and 24 percent of all special police agencies (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1992: Table C). The LEMAS data lead to an estimate of approximately 450 bias crime units in the country. 1 The creation of bias crime units is part of a national response to the problem hate-motivated violence that includes state and federal legislation. 2 By 1994 all but four states (Alaska, Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming) had some form of hate crime legislation (Anti-Defamation League, 1991; 1994). While there is considerable variation among these laws, the most common elements include (1) enhanced penalties for common law crimes against persons or property which are motivated by bias based on race, ethnicity, religion (31 states), gender (13 states), or sexual orientation (14 states);(2) criminal penalties for vandalism of religious institutions (37 states); and (3) collection of data on bias crimes (18 states). Congress, meanwhile, enacted the federal Hate Crime Reporting Act in 1990, directing the Justice Department to collect statistics on hate or bias-motivated crimes from